What is a "PC"? It simply stands for "personal computer". I have had debates in the past with people telling me that PCWorld shouldn't write about Macs. But, a Mac is a "personal computer", and our name is not "Windows PCWorld" (it's funny that nobody ever seems to make that distinction when we write about Linux).

But, I digress. Back to tablets. The advent of tablets may be a harbinger of doom for traditional operating systems like Windows and Mac OS X, but not for PCs. The tablet is a PC itself--it is a device or platform a person uses for computing.

When mini-towers came along, nobody ran around claiming that the sky was falling and that the PC as we know it is dead. When laptops became notebooks, then netbooks, there was no panic about the end of the PC. They're all just variations on a theme--different sizes and shapes of personal computers. The same is true for tablets.

Will the iPad impact traditional PC sales? Probably. It should. For the vast majority of both business and consumer PC users, the iPad (or tablets in general) provide all of the core functions, such as email, Web surfing, basic productivity, casual gaming, social networking, etc.. And, they have the added benefit of being slim, light, and having battery endurance that can make it through the entire day...and then some.

Ultrabooks offer a close comparison in terms of features and benefits while still fitting the mold of the traditional PC. The MacBook Air is a huge success, and it seems like there is significant demand for the coming .